Minnesota pitcher Tyler Duffey finally got over the hump in his last start. He went six innings, hurling eight strikeouts compared to one walk while allowing only one earned run.
That’s a nice change-up from where he was post All-Star break. Since the break, he allowed 20 earned runs in 16 innings during his previous four starts. That’s atrocious. And that has allowed him to stay on the waiver wire in fantasy baseball.
That should give you the ability to add him to your roster for a back-end start this week.
Duffey isn’t as bad as he’s shown in recent outings. He’s a rare pitcher on the waiver wire because he can actually record some nice strikeout numbers. He just has a little trouble with the home-run ball. He’s allowed 1.7 homers per nine innings, which is terrible. But he averages 7.4 strikeouts per nine innings, which isn’t horrible for a pitcher on the waiver wire.
He should be able to keep up the production during his start Saturday against Kansas City. The defending world champs aren’t playing like the team we’ve seen for the past two years. Kansas City owns the fifth-worst batting average in Major League Baseball since the All-Star break and has scored the second-fewest runs since that time.
Part of their issue is they don’t draw any walks, which should especially limit their ability to score on Duffey. The Royals own the second-fewest walks since the All-Star break, and their once special ability of avoiding strikeouts, isn’t great anymore, averaging in the middle of MLB for strikeouts in the last month.
The Royals’ offense is in shambles and Duffey has the ability to shut them down. Trust him this week as a starter to carry you through the weekend in fantasy baseball.
